Monday, December 22, 2014

This photo makes it clear how steep the gradient of the Salmon River is on its way down Mount Hood, as well as how loose and rubbly the area being drained by it is. As I mentioned a couple days ago, this view should set alarm bells clanging for the geologically inclined. Anything on low ground near the river in this area is vulnerable to lahars. This high up the mountainside, it's in a significant canyon, so other than occasional trail wipeouts, there's not much to worry about. But this area could serve as a source for a debris flow that runs miles downstream to flatter ground, then fans out, dropping the rubble, and damaging or destroying pretty much everything in its path.